video card question?

C

cooltd825

Hunter
alright, this is the totally wrong website but this IS a general discussion area so i thought i'd give it a shot.

right now i've got the Nvidia Geforce 256 Mb 8500GT. it can barely play the most recent games (i'm talking Crysis on 640x480 on low), and i don't have any next gen systems. this computer is about it. i bought this card last summer when i upgraded this comp to Vista, thinking it would be a good card since it's DX10 and everything. come to find out, it's really just good for multimedia and that's about it.

so i found a wicked deal on Newegg. there's an ATI Radeon HD 2900pro 512 MB for $150, or i could crank the price by $30 and get the new HD 3850. my main problem about the 2900 is the fact that the fan is one of those double-heights. i only have a single PCIe slot (the motherboard is 2 years old, but the processor is still lightning 2.8 Ghz dual core). i don't really feel like compressing my pictures, so i'll just give the link to my photobucket.

again, thanks for your ideas!

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b400/cooltd825/
 
how much memory does your computer have? It may not be the video card. I play halo 2 on an Nvidia Geforce 4 at full resolution with all the lighting and effects turned on. Check and see if you have the minimum memory recommended for the game. Most games now require at least 512mb but graphics may be choppy. If you have less than a gig of memory, you should upgrade it first before buying a new video card. Also, if you have windows vista, it may not be compatable without a patch.
 
dung0beetle said:
how much memory does your computer have? It may not be the video card. I play halo 2 on an Nvidia Geforce 4 at full resolution with all the lighting and effects turned on. Check and see if you have the minimum memory recommended for the game. Most games now require at least 512mb but graphics may be choppy. If you have less than a gig of memory, you should upgrade it first before buying a new video card. Also, if you have windows vista, it may not be compatable without a patch.
Click to expand...

3 Gigs, actually. 2 512 sticks, and 2 one gig sticks. trust me, it's not the memory.

it's the video card. i was just wondering if i could shove a dual slot card into a single. haha, i'm doubtful.
 
Its your video card, no doubt about it. Your only running 16 stream processors with that card. Even bumping it up to a 256mb 8600 GT\GTS would be better since its running 32 sp.

Be aware that NewEgg does sell refurbished hardware, make sure you check the description carefully.

You only need one PCIE slot for the card, you just need the extra room for the fan section. You have an open bay next to it right?


** Also make sure your power supply is sufficient.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
wow... i've been out of the PC gaming loop for a loooong time now. last cool video card i bought was in the geforce4 line! 2 slots, power supply issues. wow.
 
cooltd825 said:
alright, this is the totally wrong website but this IS a general discussion area so i thought i'd give it a shot.


so i found a wicked deal on Newegg. there's an ATI Radeon HD 2900pro 512 MB for $150, or i could crank the price by $30 and get the new HD 3850.
Click to expand...
DO NOT. I REPEAT DO NOT USE THAT ATI. I would highly recommend staying with Nvidia. Trust me, stick with the best. If you want to spend a little more, they just came out with some new 8800's that are labeled g92. Basically, the 8800gt is beats the gtx which is more than double the price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133205
 
you also have to be careful with your RAM. If your 512's are running at 333MHz and the 1GB are running @ 450MHZ the whole thing goes down to the lower speed (333MHz). Not really an issue of how much but how is it compatible. Better of to go with just 2 GB at the same speed.
 
corby said:
I think I found the problem
Click to expand...

Delta75 said:
Yep, I missed that part...lol
Click to expand...

Exactly... your first and major mistake was Vista.. its higher Gamer incompaitble, especially for cards and frame rates etc...

Drop down to XP Professional, im using Media Centre Professional, and get a decent card... say GeForce 8800GTX :p that should do it nicely....

And i agree with the ram... buy some 1 Gb sticks, put the 512s away for backup, and be much happier :D
 
I suggest the ATI Sapphire x1800 512mb PCI-E card. I have absolutely no problem playing games with high-end physics engines like F.E.A.R., Halo 2, Ghost Reco: Advanced Warfighter, and others, all on full resolution with all shaders and lighting effects. I love that card. :)
 
Alcfalath said:
Exactly... your first and major mistake was Vista.. its higher Gamer incompaitble, especially for cards and frame rates etc...

Drop down to XP Professional, im using Media Centre Professional, and get a decent card... say GeForce 8800GTX :p that should do it nicely....

And i agree with the ram... buy some 1 Gb sticks, put the 512s away for backup, and be much happier :D
Click to expand...

My friend has vista, and has zero of these issues. He was running on a 7800gt, AMD 4000+ 2.4ghz processor, a gig of ram, and windows vista ultimate. Games ran into no trouble. Now he's running on better stuff (phenom, 8800gt etc). The problems you're running into aren't vistas fault, and it's important to keep that in mind. You wouldn't go Windows 98 because something else in your comp is messing up XP would u?
 
The biggest problem with Vista is driver incompatability. It also is a memory hog. If I understand you correctly, you loaded Vista on top of an existing Windows OS. Drop back to Windows XP and wait another year or two before Microsoft fixes the bugs in Vista and third party vendors start making drivers for it.

BTW, you could just get a MAC. :lol:
 
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